Blazers on the other hand are such a sorry franchise. If it is not injuries it is giving massive contracts to trash players. As someone on RealGM said the salaries of Turner and Leonard make room for another max lever player. Turner and Leonard are awful. Turner is simply a gap filler AT best.

Turner and Leonard's salaries almost add up to a max player, but no max player would be willing to sign with Portland, unless they were to offer the max to someone like Marcus Smart. Besides, they are so over the cap that dumping those two would still leave them with very little cap room.

Definitely a frustrating first two games. Yesterday, AD didn't have his best game and McCollum was hitting a lot of his low-percentage looks, but once again Portland took the L. The 2013 all-star guard tandem of Rondo and Jrue played exceptionally well, but this was a game Portland should have won. I'm not sure if it's more on Stotts or Lillard but Dame needs to pass out of these double and triple teams. All these turnovers and bad shot attempts are cratering an already mediocre offense, and allowing the Pelicans to score in transition. The Blazers are looking like the 2015 Raptors out there, and it's hard to watch.

Credit where it's due to the Pelicans though. Gentry is out-coaching Stotts, and Jrue is playing the best ball of his career. It's a shame they have so many injury prone starters, because they actually have a very solid team right now. Still don't think they have a very good chance against the Warriors, should they win this series.

Man, You know I've been a Lillard supporter over Wall and Irving but Lillard largely is at fault for their post season shortcomings. He's the best player on this team and his drop offs in playoff performance is inexcusable. Considering he was "red hot" in team's last 30 or so games, they enjoyed huge success and landed 3rd seed in West. Without him playing a good ball, this team is just another overachievers. He's to make the ALL NBA 1st TEAM first time in his career, then play like a fucking superstar. KAT is a disappoint? I'd say Lillard is a bigger one at that. Nobody sane considered Wolves to pose real threats to the Rockets anyways.

Lillard said he's never seen a defense like that (specifically the PNR defense). I see what he is talking about, he's being hounded all game by the bigs fighting over the top of the PNR and they are staying with him, and sometimes the guard/forward stays up as well and they just create a wall/havoc.

I am still a huge Lillard fan, but he's just stifled in this series. It also shows how weak the team is as a whole... when Lillard can't go nuts, the team looks below average.

I wouldn't say blow it up completely, as I do think that Lillard is a keeper...

I'm not sure what they should do, honestly. Disappointed though, I did think Portland would win this series, and I did think Lillard would show out. I was dead wrong.

"I don't know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody - somewhere - was practicing more than me." - Larry Bird

i suppose most teams don't have an answer for Davis but really that problem is magnified for the Blazers. Chief isn't a respected as a perimeter shooter so Davis can roam on defense and nurk seemed to peak last year (lol).

certainly helps to have Niko in the Pels lineup on both sides of the ball.

really a big shock for lillard's poor play. he's got to be up there in contested made shots for the regular season. it's impressive really and now he's flustered.

Derrick is a legend, no matter what. I don’t like how you explained thatJabari Parker in response to a reporter asking him to comment on Derrick Rose's "fall from grace"

Portland can continue to make the playoffs every year for the foreseeable future, but 50 wins and sneaking into the second round is pretty much their ceiling. He's a decent coach, but after six seasons, it might be time to move on from Terry Stotts. He's been soundly out-coached by Alvin Gentry (who is underrated in my opinion, he just gets a bad rap) and hasn't made any adjustments in this series. Lots of fans like him, and I'll admit that he's done some great work, but it might be time to get rid of his down-on-his-luck used car salesman ass.

Damian Lillard has been pretty bad this series. I do think his "gravity" has led to some other guys getting more buckets than usual, but he really struggles when teams focus on him specifically. Playoff Lillard died when Aldridge left the team, as now opposing defenses can just double team him, knowing that he struggles to pass out of them and isn't good playing off the ball. And with all this adversity, he went back to not playing defense. He's my favorite player in the NBA, but when I saw him not even try to contest Rondo's dagger three in game 2, I was ready to trust the process.

McCollum's gotta go. He's very talented, and when he's on, he's ON. But his shot selection has been terrible, and him and Dame will always be a problematic back-court defensively. I also hope they let Nurkic walk. He's younger than I am, and has been integral in the team's defensive transformation, but he is also injury prone, a diva, bad on offense, and not a good fit in today's game. Hassan Whiteside is better than him, and he's not seeing the floor much for the same reason.

So I wouldn't be opposed to seeing them blow it up this Summer. In all likelihood, rebuilding will lead to another roster that peaks at 45-50 wins, but that's how the NBA goes, and at least with a rebuild there's some hope at being a serious contender. The 2015-16 season was a fun ride, but they probably would have been better off sucking.

For people who actually watch this team, how does Davis/Cousins compare to Mirotic/Davis, or is it a moot point?

It astounds me they can thrive with essentially three point guards in their backcourt; the next burning question is how will Moore not get destroyed by Durant, or do you put Mirotic, or even Davis on him?

It will be interesting to see if they continue to play their game or if they'll adjust and get destroyed like Utah last season - a Steph-less Warriors honestly opens the door for a legitimate upset here, and I'd say they could steal Game 1 and even a home game if he doesn't play; maybe even the series if he isn't 100%.

This is a stinker and a huge disappointment. They had a real good regular season so I was hoping for them to finish this season on a high note so they can continue building on a successful season next year. But all of sudden, this is looking like a lost season.

cavs4872 wrote:The burning question is if this happens with DeMarcus.

For people who actually watch this team, how does Davis/Cousins compare to Mirotic/Davis, or is it a moot point?

You guys probably know me by the record for saying the team could do well without Cousins. Especially with Jrue and Rondo stepping up in his absence, I am more firm on this stance than before.

It's a fair question, though. Sure, some of the best players of all-time have had series that were stinkers, but considering everything as the Blazers move forward, is Lillard a franchise player, or "just" a very good one?

He's my favorite player, but you definitely aren't winning a title with him as your best player. Granted, he usually doesn't play this bad even on the worst of occasions but he's struggled in the playoffs without Aldridge.

shadowgrin wrote:Dat 6.8 PER from Lillard. Credit to the Pelicans for exposing Lillard, he’s not a franchise player, he’s a sidekick at best.

*That PER was 9.1 for the series.

Still not good. But that was the actual PER.

I'm not writing off Lillard yet, his previous 4 playoff trips weren't even close to this bad individually. I want to see what the Blazers do this offseason, and I wonder if moving CJ will be the go to attempt at being better competitively next year.

"I don't know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody - somewhere - was practicing more than me." - Larry Bird

Lillard makes for an awesome second option. As a first option his ceiling is exactly a 2nd round exit. Lillard and Kawhi together could be magic.

One thing that really irks me about Lillard is that he is not all that great of a 3pt shooter. He has deep range but almost always shoots a very average percentage. Never cracked the 40% mark in his career from 3.